The Month
by Fishcake17
Summary: Sakana Ajiyoshi has the hugest crush on Konata out of all of the guys in Ryoo High School. It's been a month since the new year, when he made his resolution to ask her out, and while he doesn't exactly get a 'yes', he doesn't exactly get a 'no' either.
1. Day 1

_**Day 1**_

**Tuesday, February 1****st****. **

**Morning**

I had an unusually late start today, waking up an hour later than I usually do. It left me almost no time whatsoever to get to Ryoo High School. I quickly grabbed my lunch (which I had prepared the night before), told my mom goodbye and left. Sure, I was within walking distance of the school, but it took me about 20 minutes to get there! Usually I'd have taken a shower, brushed my teeth and had breakfast in the hour I usually had, and still have plenty of time to get there!

Aah, damn. I ended up getting to class a couple minute late.

"Eh?" Kuroi-sensei was already in the classroom, obviously. "You're usually not late, Ajiyoshi. What's your excuse?"

I hung my head. Indeed, I'd never been late before now; I was usually very good when it came to time. I sighed, defeated. "No excuse. I just overslept. Sorry Kuroi-sensei."

She shook her head, smiling, and lightly bonked me on the head with the ruler she had been holding. "Whatever, I'll let it slide this once since you're usually a good kid. Get to your seat." I took my seat, glad that I didn't get punished, but still disappointed that I didn't get there in time.

As I sat in my seat, my focus drifted off of what the teacher was talking about (it seemed to be something I'd already knew anyways, in my defense) and around the classroom until, finally, as always, settling on a short blue-haired girl sitting a few seats in front and to the left of me. Her name was Konata Izumi.

I mean, hey, I couldn't help but admire her! She was perfect to me…we had so much in common, it seemed! We both liked anime, we both liked video games, we both made references to our friends that no one else would get. And she had blue hair. Blue hair! I've always had a weakness for blue haired girls! And those deep green eyes…aaah, green's my favorite color! Everything about her was just so…perfect. I had decided last month, as my New Year's resolution, to ask her out this year.

A friend who was sitting next to me nudged me with her elbow, which broke me out of my trance. It was Aika. "Sakana!" she exclaimed, "Sensei's asking you a question!"

I looked at Aika, then quickly to Kuroi-sensei, then back to my open journal and started blushing. "Ah-wha, yes?" Hastily I tried scrambling myself together. "I'm sorry could you repeat the question, I must not have caught it!"

An unimpressed look on her face, Kuroi-sensei dully said, "What's up with you today, Ajiyoshi? That long hair of yours starting to weigh your head down too much?" A few classmates chuckled, including me. It was a running joke that I was one of the only males with long(ish) hair accepted by the school. Nothing as long as Konata's or anything like that, a slight past shoulder length at most…and I didn't keep it in my face either.

"So Ajiyoshi, who overthrew the Anglo-Saxons then?" Kuroi-sensei asked again.

"Oh! The Normans!" I said almost immediately. Kuroi nodded approvingly, and continued teaching.

"So, you gonna do it or what?" Aika asked in a low voice so that Kuroi-sensei wouldn't hear.

"Uh…do what?" I said, clueless. Aika gave me a 'you're hopeless' expression.

"Duh, ask Konata out!" she said, grinning.

"W-what? Now? What are you crazy? We're in the middle of class!"

"Yes, yes we are Ajiyoshi." Kuroi-sensei suddenly said, "Good kid and all, but a hell of a chatterbox, now stay quiet until I'm done!"

"Sorry Kuroi-sensei." I said. She continued teaching.

"You should ask her out during lunch." Aika whispered to me.

"Today? No way!"

"It's already been a month, c'mooon!"

"No, dammit! I don't want to!"

Suddenly Kuroi-sensei, with a fluid motion, turned around and threw the chalk she was using at the time, hitting me square in the forehead and startling the crap out of me. "Ajiyoshi, I'm trying to teach!"

"Aah, sorry sorry!" I said, clutching my forehead, a nice lump rising from it.

**Lunchtime**

"So you gonna ask her out?"

"No."

"You should!"

"No."

"C'mon! You can't wait around all year you know!"

"Damn you Aika. No, dammit!"

"Dooo iiit."

"Nnnn oooo"

Aika and I were fairly good friends, but sometimes she annoyed the hell out of me. We had been bickering about this all lunch. A good twenty minutes had passed, and we'd only about half finished our lunches. I was a big sushi person, so I usually just packed ten or so things of sushi into my lunch container and called it good.

"I'm gonna keep bugging you like this until you do it!" she said playfully.

I smiled. "You really don't give up easy, do you?" She had always been stubborn with things like this.

"Do it."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Denied."

"Accept your fate!"

"Never!"

"Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet naaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooowww wwwwwwwwwww-"

I stood up. "Alright alright, FINE! If it'll shut you up about it." Aika gleefully fist pumped in the air victoriously. "I mean sheesh, it's just Konata. It's not like the end of my life if she rejects me or anything." I was more trying to convince myself that than anyone else.

"Whooo! All right Sakana! Go get 'er, you beast!" she yelled. Thankfully the lunchroom was usually pretty noisy, so no one else really noticed.

"Ay, keep it down would you!" I said anyways, blushing furiously. "I'm having a hard enough time as it is without you doing stuff like that!" I then turned around and looked.

Yep, there she was, that blue haired beauty. Konata was sitting down eating her lunch, seemed to be chatting with two other girls. Hiiragi, I think the others were called? Eh, who cares?

To be honest, I had never really approached her to talk to her before. Up until now, I had admired her from afar. Aika had always called me a pathetic, hopeless romantic because of it, but I didn't mind. That was just her way of saying it looked grossly adorable to the outside observer.

So now…I was taking my first step towards her, really.

Slowly…almost inching my way towards her table…with each step I took, I got a little shakier, and a little shakier. I wondered what I would say when I got up there. I wondered how she would react. What should I do? How should I word it? I hadn't expected myself to be this fast into it. I hadn't prepared myself for this at all. I wondered…

I wondered so much that I almost didn't realize I had worked my way right up in front of their table and all three of the girls were looking right at me. When it hit me, my face felt like it would be emitting steam from its pores at any moment now, and I seemed to be shaking harder than the average Nintendo 64 rumble pack.

I just stood there. I, Sakana Ajiyoshi, was practically standing right in front of Konata and her friends. I had no idea what to do.

"Whoa dude, you okay Sakana-san?" I heard a voice say. It took me a second to register that it was none other than Konata's.

_Okay dude. Get a grip. Say her name. Deep breaths. Ask her if he could talk to her alone for a minute. Yeah, that might work. Alright, let's do this! We got this!_

"K-k-Konata-san…"I began, stuttering and chattering, "C-can I-er-could I please t-talk to you a-alone for a sec? P-promise it'll only be j-just a sec, alright? Nothing big or anything, okay?"

_Nothing big? Nothing big!? Are you an idiot!? Asking her out is pretty effing big!_

"Sure, what's up Sakana-san?" Konata had gotten up, and I guess my legs decided to say 'Ah, this sap doesn't know what he's doing anymore' and started acting of their own accord now, because she and I moved a few meters away from the table she was sitting at. I caught a glance of Aika grinning her face off from across the room. "Hey man, you don't look so good," she said, "Maybe you should go to the nur-"

"Iwaswantingtoknowifmaybeyou'dgooutwithme!" I almost incomprehensibly drooled out through speech. I shut my eyes tight as though I was trying to avoid seeing my own death and braced myself.

"…huh? I didn't catch that. You sure you're alright?" It must have been too blurred out for Konata to understand. I tried again slower. _Deep breaths, man. Deep breaths._

"I…was wondering…was wanting to know…if…maybe…you'd…if…I…could…be…your…y-your…uhh…" I imagine my face was purple at this point.

"Be my whaaat?" It seemed that Konata already had caught on, and was teasing me in a way not unlike Aika would. I guess she'd played enough romantic visual novels to not be completely oblivious to this sort of thing.

I looked away and muttered, "…if I could be your…boyfriend…" I heard her giggle ever so lightly. "What, what's so funny?!" I turned away even further.

"Hey Sakana-san?" Konata said.

"What?" I was still turned away.

"Look at me, hmm?"

"Eh?"

"C'mon, I wanna see your eyes!"

"W-what…" I was going to ask why, but somewhere along the line that got kicked in the head. I slowly raised my head and turned back to look at her. We made eye contact, and I almost got myself completely lost in that emerald green sea of hers.

"Now ask it again." Konata said, smiling.

I hesitated, not knowing what to think. "Uhh…I was wondering if I could…be your boyfriend…?"

A satisfied look crossed her face. "There, now that's better! Good job!"

I was dumbfounded for a little while. Neither of us spoke. She kept her satisfied smile; I kept my confused and blatantly uncertain look until I decided to break the silence. "So…are you…going to answer my question?" I asked, trying not to come off as pushy.

Konata thought about it for a moment. "We've never really hung out, have we Sakana?"

I glanced away. "Not really, I guess…"

"And we don't honestly know each other besides from being classmates, do we?"

"…yeah, you're right about that."

She sighed. "You're an odd one, even compared to me. Asking someone out you hardly know? What if I had some sort of incompatibility with you that you didn't know of, or the other way around? Or if there was some habit either of us had that the other couldn't stand? Or any number of things, really! I mean, we don't know each other at all after all, so for all we know, we might just not even care for each other."

"I…hadn't really thought about any of that really…I just knew that I really really liked you."

"But you don't really know that, do you? Because we don't know each other."

"…I guess…" I didn't really know what to say to that. I felt like such an idiot. Of course, Konata had been right in almost every point, but how was I to react to something like that? It was far from what I expected. I had expected either a nonchalant accept or any variation of reject. "Uhh…well…" I hesitated for a bit. "W…what happens now?" At least I had calmed myself down a little at this point.

Konata chuckled. "Well, I'll tell you what. You seem to be a nice guy and all, so I won't outright reject you, but I'll make you a deal. How about…for the rest of the month, during lunch, you come and sit at our table?" She said motioning to the table where her two purple haired friends were still sitting. "That way my friends and I'll get to know you and all that stuff, and you'll get to know all of us too. At the end of the month, if you still want, I'll get back to you on the dating request, though my only guarantee is that by the end of the month, I'll have a solid 'yes' or 'no' for you. Deal?" She seemed oddly excited, as though this was the plot of one of her recently read manga or something.

But hey, what's the worst that could possibly happen? I'm gonna get to meet new people, and I'm gonna get to be around Konata every single lunch for a month? As far as I was concerned, it was a win-win! I smiled excitedly, and said "Alright, deal!" Almost on cue, as I said that, the bell rang.

"Ah, class time." Konata said in a way that blatantly said she wasn't looking forward to it. "Later, Sakana." She said as she halfheartedly waved to me while moving back to her table to get her stuff. She and the purple haired girls with her left, and I was just standing there when Aika suddenly bopped me on the back.

"Heeey! Did she say yes?" she asked pryingly.

"Well…" I smiled.

"SHE DID!?"

"Not exactly." I then told her all of what had happened on the way to class.

"Wow, that's surprising!" she said, "Well, hope you have fun in the next month then!"

Something struck me then. "Uhh…Aika…are you-"

But Aika stopped me. "I already know what you're gonna say. 'Oh Aika, are you sure you'll be okay without me? Won't you be allll aloooone?'" she said, making a cruel impersonation of me, "Don't worry about it, alright? I've got lotsa friends! Just go and get her already! I've had to hear you complain about wanting her for almost a year and a half now, so go and DOO EET! Besides, I usually get to walk with you to and from school anyways."

I laughed. "You know me way too well, Aika. Well alright then, if you're sure."

"Of course I'm sure, you dolt! Anyways, I gotta head to my class now. Later!"

"See ya." I walked cheerfully into my class, barely being able to wait until tomorrow.

The rest of the school day was kind of a blur. It didn't really matter. The rest of my classes, I don't have any friends in really. Acquaintances aplenty, but no one really worth mentioning, so I probably won't talk much about them at all.

**After School**

As per usual, I waited to walk with Aika back to my house. She lived a few houses down from where I lived, but it was in the same neighborhood anyways.

"So how's your boyfriend been anyways, Aika?" I asked idly.

"Oh, same old, same old."

"Christ, how long's it been? Three years? Four?"

"Since him and I started dating? Two; he asked me out in Freshman year, remember?"

"Ah, yeah, that's right. We're Juniors now, so that'd make it two. Still, that's impressive for people our age."

"I guess. I've heard of people our age that started dating in middle school and were still dating come graduating from high school."

"Whaaaat? No way!" I called her out on her bullcrap.

"Oh, I guess it _was _just that one couple after all." Aika grinned. "But still, it happened!"

"Yeah, that's true I guess. Ah." We had arrived at my house. "Later, Aika." I said, smiling and waving as I went in.

"Laaaaterrr!" she said, doing the same.


	2. Day 2

_**Day 2**_

**Wednesday, February 2****nd **

**Morning**

I awoke today from an unusually good sleep, on time this time thankfully. Energetically, I walked through the house getting myself ready. My mom noticed this almost immediately.

"Sakana," she began as I was eating a short breakfast, "You're quite enthusiastic today. I don't think I've ever seen you so bouncy!"

"Yeah well, things happened yesterday, gonna get to meet new people today, pretty excited about it and whatnot." I said, playing it off as not much of a big deal.

"Ohh? What kind of things? Are you finally going out with that one girl you're always talking about? Ko…ko…kona…"

"It's Konata," I corrected, irritated slightly, "And no Mom, I'm not going out with her. But I did talk with her for the first time yesterday."

"If it lasted less than 30 seconds, it doesn't count, you know."

"Hey! For one, it lasted way more than 30 seconds! For two, are you implying all I ever communicated in the past with her has been quick questions and greetings for her in the past!?"

"Of course, you're just like your father way back when! He couldn't even approach me for the longest time, and all his brave attempts turned out to amount to nothing more than passing greetings." How could Mom be so cruel in her teasings!?

Dad, who had been watching TV in the other room, turned his head to look towards us and said smoothly smiling, "May I remind you who the biggest tsundere in all of our high school was? Because that would be you, sweetheart."

"Ah-HEY! WATCH IT, BUD!" Mom retorted, blushing ever so slightly.

"Oh great, so not only am I shy towards the girl I like, I have the potential to be tsundere towards her too?" I joked. "Talk about an imperfect storm."

"h-HELLO!?" Mom said loudly, "I SO WAS **NOT **TSUNDERE! I-I just didn't know how to react back then, that's all!"

"Oh hey look at the time!" I said, "Gotta go take a shower, I'll be back!" I rushed out to take my shower, then popped back in, grinning. "You know, you're only proving that you were, and still are, totally tsundere." I ran for the bathroom as soon as I said that.

* * *

I'd gotten a text from Aika saying she was heading out, which was my signal every morning to leave. I said goodbye to my parents, then left. Aika was a house or two away walking to me. Make no mistake, it's not like she was about to wait for me; she just texted me when she left so I knew. We began our usual walk to school.

"So," Aika started, "How's it gonna be with your sweet little Konata-chan today?"

I felt my face already starting to warm up. "Aaak, I said that once a year ago and you've never let me hear the end of it!"

"And I never will." She said, smiling in the most evil teasing way I could imagine.

"Pff, well at any rate, I wouldn't know how things are gonna work anyways. I'm going in this practically blind."

Aika gave a look. "You usually aren't that enthusiastic about trying this sort of new thing. You're not worried that you're going unprepared or anything like that?"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear all of those worries over the sound of me having lunch with the girl I've liked for two years. For a month straight." I said grinning. I couldn't help it; I was way too excited to be worried about all of that sort of stuff I usually fret about.

Aika smiled and shook her head. "The things you'll overcome in the name of love…"

**Lunchtime**

Here I was. It was the beginning of lunchtime, and I could not get to that lunchroom fast enough. I was elated, excited, and a bunch of other positive words that begin with the letter 'e'. I was looking around for Konata and her friends, but I couldn't seem to find them.

"Looking for us, speed racer?" a voice from behind me said. I turned around, and there was Konata in front, with the two purple haired girls from before right behind her. One of the purple haired girls, the short haired one, waved to me nicely. I just sorta waved back.

The other purple haired girl whispered something to Konata. "Ah, it'll be fine, don't get your panties in a bunch Kagami." Konata replied to her. I decided right then and there to introduce myself to everyone there. I mean, if this is gonna be happening for a month, it's only polite, right?

"Well, uhh," I bowed slightly, "My name is Ajiyoshi Sakana. I hope I…umm…" I paused for a minute. It was then that I realized I had absolutely no idea about how formalities worked. "I hope I don't make any of you upset by being around!" I smiled, trying to act cheerful under how utterly stupid I felt.

At least it seemed to make Kagami chuckle a little. Hopefully she wasn't threatened by me or anything. She smiled and introduced herself. "I'm Hiiragi Kagami, nice to meet you."

The purple short-haired girl did the same. "I'm her twin sister, Hiiragi Tsukasa. Hope we can be friends." She said cheerfully.

"And I think you already know who I am," Konata said, "So let's just get to our table already!"

We made our way to a booth that had a table and two seats across from each other. They looked like they could comfortably hold about three people each seat. Kagami and Tsukasa sat in one seat, while Konata took the seat across. I wasn't really sure what to do; I didn't think I'd be sitting right next to Konata! I'd expected to have to sit across from her!

"You gonna sit down or what?" Kagami asked.

I already felt my face redden a little. Aaah, dammit, I'm already blushing? I haven't even been here for a couple minutes! _Well, can't stand around like an idiot or anything. _"Y-yeah, sorry." I said, abruptly grinning sheepishly and sitting down next to Konata. _Christ I'm glad there's room for about three here. Any closer to her and I might explode._

I took my lunch out and popped the container open, revealing ten sushi rolls. Kagami looked at them curiously. "Is that all you brought? Not much variety there…"

"Aah, yeah well, ehe, I dunno, it's just what I tend to like." I said a little nervously, "Seems to be, I don't really get tired of things I like very fast."

"I wonder about that…" Konata smugly remarked.

I blushed furiously while Kagami giggled. It seemed to go over Tsukasa's head; she just kept eating like nothing happened. "H-hey now!" I flustered out, "What's that s-supposed to mean, huh!?"

"If you're wondering," Tsukasa began, "We all here already know, so there's no need to hide the fact that you like her or anything." She smiled enchantingly as if everything was going to be alright.

"A-a-a-a-are you kidding me!" I wasn't _really _mad, but I was pretty embarrassed and didn't see that coming. _Although on second thought, I should have…_

"Whaaat," Konata cooed teasingly, "You didn't think I was going to go easy on you just because you have a thing for me, did youuu?" She was having way too much fun with this. "And it's not like you make it much of a secret anyways," she pointed out, "Seriously, you give out more marks and signs than your average tsundere character, and you act like such a shrinking violet about it, it's pretty much obvious to the entire school."

"Hey, didn't you call me tsundere or whatever once before?" Kagami questioned Konata with a glare.

"Now now Kagami, we all know you're a tsundere!" Konata replied

Konata and Kagami had a short bicker back and forth until I processed what Konata said. I popped a sushi roll in my mouth. "The entire school, huh?" I said, relaxed and calm as a breeze.

Then it really processed as I swallowed my roll and started choking on a stray piece of rice in reaction, sputtering out, "T-the-kkh-ENTIRE-KH-SCHOOL!?" I contained my freak out enough that I didn't flip any tables over, but I shoved aside my sushi and put my forehead on the table. "Oh god…the entire school…knew?" I said horrified.

"Are you okay, Sakana-san?" Tsukasa concernedly asked.

"Aah, I'm sure he'll be fine in a few minutes," Konata replied, "Give him time for the shock to wear off, the poor oblivious guy." _Why is Konata acting like she already knows me like the back of her hand, anyways?_

"Well at any rate," Kagami tried to smooth over by changing the subject, "What sort of things do you like to do, Sakana? Any clubs you're in or anything like that?"

I looked up wearily from the table I had once buried my face in. "Not really, no. None of the clubs interested me more than what I tend to do by myself at home. Usually I go home and hop on my MMO or maybe break out the PS2. Sometimes I-"

Almost immediately after the mention, Konata asked, "What MMO do you play?"

"Typical reaction for her." Kagami smiled as she said.

"Well, I've tried out quite a few different ones, and I tend to go through phases," I began, "But right now it seems I'm settled on Mabinogi."

"Ooh, I played that one for a little bit!" Tsukasa piped up.

"Really?" Konata asked, "That's surprising, I didn't think you played many MMOs."

"Well, to be honest, I didn't really play it the way most people did, I think…" Tsukasa said a little slowly, "Umm…I tried learning how to play an instrument, but I didn't really get it…"

"Yeah, figures," Konata replied with a light chuckle, "I played Mabinogi way back when. I wanna say it was my second or third MMO that I ever played. Thing is, I got bored with it after a while."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Well…" Konata looked as if it were coming back to her bit by bit, "After I soloed the Desert Dragon, there wasn't much else I wanted to do, so I quit."

My eyes widened. "You soloed the Desert Dragon. THE Desert Dragon!? No way!"

She puffed out her chest victoriously. "Yup, one of the few that have ever been able to! But ever since then, I felt like I accomplished all I needed to, and everything else was so much boringness that I knew I could do even if I didn't already. I never got into it far enough to want to do everything in it."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know those feels. I didn't even bother to try and beat the final boss in Kingdom Hearts because I knew I could easily after I beat Sephiroth."

Konata's eyebrows raised ever so slightly. "You beat Sephiroth on Kingdom Hearts? The first one?"

"Sure did," I said proudly, but not boasting, "Though it was hard as all hell and took me a good fifteen or twenty tries. Spent a lot of time trying to do that."

"Impressive, most impressive!" Konata commended, "That's a pretty hard boss for most people. Beatable by all means, but quite difficult."

Tsukasa leaned towards her sister and asked quietly while Konata and I went on, "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"

"Only vaguely," Kagami replied, "Seems like they were made for each other already, frankly." She took a bite of her lunch, then said slightly irritated, "Oi, we're here too, lovebirds."

I broke away from the conversation Konata and I were having, blushing furiously. Konata grinningly replied, "Hey, that's to be decided still!"

"Anyways," Kagami went on, "Sakana, is there anything else you do besides gaming?"

"Well…" I had to think for a minute and collect in my mind all the types of things I did. "I like to wail on my guitar a lot, though I'm not good at it by any means. I've also got a piano keyboard I tend to play often, though again, not very well.

"Wow, you play guitar and piano?" Tsukasa said, clearly impressed.

"Aah- hey-hey-hey now! Don't go expecting me to play any magnificent pieces or anything, alright? I'm not that great!" I said hastily. If there was one thing I hated, it was letting people down, so I didn't want to get hopes up. "Besides, most of the things I play are probably things no one here would recognize. They tend to be from obscure OSTs or something like that. Oh, I just remembered, I like cooking for others quite a lot, though I'm not really good at it and I don't get to very often."

"You don't really sell yourself very big, do you?" Konata commented. I swear I almost heard my mom saying her usual 'Oh shut up, you play just fine!' line from afar.

"Ehehe, well I just call 'em like I see 'em." I replied.

At that point the bell for the end of lunch rang, and we all said our goodbyes and headed to class. Shortly after I took off on the way to class, I heard someone say my name behind me. I turned around, expecting Aika to be there, locked and loaded with the latest teasing I was going to be administered, but it was Tsukasa of all people. I noted that Kagami was a little ways away behind her; she must have asked Kagami to wait for her I reasoned.

"Umm…Sakana-san" Tsukasa began, "I just wanted to let you know that, if you didn't already realize it, you're welcome at our table whenever." She smiled enchantingly. "I hope we can become good friends!" she said enthusiastically and pure-heartedly.

I tilted my head to the side, a little confused at first, but then just decided to take it as a compliment. "Well, thank you Tsukasa!" I said cheerfully, "I hope we can as well, though honestly, I don't think we'll have much of a problem being friends at all. You're really nice, you know?" I added on a spur of the moment.

"Ah- thank you!" she said, looking humbled, "I've gotta get to class now, bye!" She turned away and went back to her sister. _Huh…aah, Tsukasa's so friendly! I love it!_

Just then I felt a poke on my back. I turned around. Aah, there was Aika. "Hey loverboy," she said grinning, "Aren't you going to be late for class soon?"

"Aren't you?" I retorted, smiling.

"Guess we'd better hurry then."

* * *

Not much happened after that. Walked home with Aika as per usual, ended up going to bed fairly early that night. I fell straight asleep, happy that not only was I getting to know the girl of my dreams, I practically had three new friends now. I was content.


	3. Day 3

_**Day 3**_

**Thursday, February 3rd**

**Morning**

Woke up about half an hour earlier than usual. Decided to get ready early so I could clock in a few minutes to check my herbs and make potions on Mabinogi. Whenever I start up my computer, it opens up a bunch of different things automatically, one of which being Skype. When I logged on, almost immediately someone messaged me. _Huh…wonder who that could be that this hour…_I clicked it.

It was Konata.

Konata: Hey Sakana, you know what we should do?

I was freaking out. _Omigawd what could she be talking about? A date? Maybe even a kiss!? Maybe something romantic or maybe she'll invite me over for video games or something? Aaaah!_

Sakana: What should we do? o.o

Konata: We should get together in class after Kuroi-sense's done lecturing so that you can help me with my homework.

Konata: You're smart, right? And you're not as mean as Kagami about it too! :3

_…not exactly what I had in mind, but it's better than nothing I guess…_

* * *

And so there I was in class, barely listening to Kuroi-sensei's lecture. I couldn't risk idly staring at Konata like I did before; she might actually notice this time around and it could come off as really creepy, so instead my eyes just sort of roamed around until settling on…_hey…I didn't know Kuroi-sensei had a little fang._

I was nudged on the elbow by Aika. She whispered, "Hey, you're not getting the hots for teacher, are you? You haven't been able to take your eyes off of her for a good five or ten minutes."

I gave her a horrified expression. "That's just weird! The only reason I've been staring is because I'm just now noticing her little fang thing."

"Dude, that's _always _been there."

"Has it really? I seriously just noticed."

"Yeah. So, planning on going to Konata after class?"

_How the hell did she know that!?_ "How the hell did you know that?" I asked.

"I have my ways."

"Creeper…" We decided to pipe down until Kuroi-sensei was done lecturing, which coincidentally didn't take long. For the rest of the class, she dismissed us to talk amongst ourselves until the bell rang.

I went over to Konata, who was idly chatting with Tsukasa about something. "You said you needed my help?"

"Aaah, yeah, you're a lifesaver dude!" Konata grabbed her homework from her bag and handed it to me. I looked it over.

"Hate to break it to ya, but this was due two days ago," I said.

Konata was shocked. "N-no way! I thought it was later today!" Tsukasa giggled at the fact that she'd forgotten.

"You shouldn't be giggling, Tsukasa, you're no better." Kagami said, breaking away from her own desk and joining the group. "You might be even worse at forgetting those types of things than Konata is." Tsukasa was clearly embarrassed and 'ehe'd nervously.

**Lunchtime**

I didn't even need to be separated from the group to go to lunch; after the bell rang, we all went there together. We all sat down the same as before. _Aaah, this is already starting to feel like a routine thing, I love it! No awkwardness or anything, just feels totally normal!_

"So how do you get away with having such long hair, anyways?" Konata asked me, "Usually guys are supposed to have their hair a lot shorter, right?"

"Eh?" I hadn't really thought about it. My hair was blonde, slightly past shoulder length. "I dunno. Don't most people look down on guys with long hair because they tend to have it all over their face and whatnot? Maybe it's because I don't do that and always keep my face clear from it."

"That might be," Kagami replied, "But then again, usually schools are quite strict about that sort of thing."

"Maybe it's because he usually gets good grades and tends to have little to no behavior problems?" Tsukasa suggested.

I shrugged. "I don't think it's as strict here as other schools. Every once in a while you'll see a long haired guy in this school besides me. They do tend to be outcasts though, I'll admit that."

"Probably makes them feel special or something." Konata said bluntly as she munched on her lunch. She changed her expression to a curious one. "What's up with your name anyways. Sakana…doesn't that have something to do with fish or alcohol?"

"Eh?" I was puzzled myself. "Why do you keep asking things that I've never really thought about before?" I asked, chuckling.

"Well, how else am I supposed to get to know you?" Konata made a pose resembling _Phoenix Wright's_ pointing. "It's cross-examination! Objection!"

Tsukasa had a blank look on her face. Kagami facepalmed and just said, "You've lost me," in an exasperated tone. Only I was laughing at the reference she made.

"Oh, that makes me wonder," Konata began, "What types of visual novels do you like?"

"Erm…" I thought about it._ Ah, man I've only read one! She's totally not going to be impressed with that!_

"Aahaha, well, a few here and there, you know? _Fate/Stay_ something here, _Phoenix Wright_ there, just y'know stuff." I grinned going along with it.

Konata smiled, accepting it. "Cool, really cool!" _Aah yes! She bought it! _"So tell me what you've actually read before your pants start smoldering and catch on fire, liar liar." She added, the once accepting smile turning into a smug one.

_…busted…and so elegantly and smoothly called out too! Ack!_

I hung my head. "Alright, the only visual novel I've ever read is _Umineko no Naku Koro ni_."

"That sounds better." Konata said, satisfied.

"How did you know he was lying?" Tsukasa asked.

"It's something that happens all the time in anime," Konata explains, "The guy fibs a little to the love interest in order to gain her approval. Usually he ends up having to lie to cover up the lies, ending in everything going totally chaotic in the end before he finally owns up to it all, either for comic effect or for harsh drama. I recognized it immediately, and neutralized it on the spot!" she finished triumphantly.

All of the table besides Konata sweatdropped.

"It's so true…but d-do ya have to be so…so…blunt about it?" I asked exasperatedly.

Konata continued, "Though personally I find it kind of cute in an endearing way that you'd go to the extent of lying like that to impress me."

_Aaa…I…Ahh…wha…so…confused…don't know…how to feel…I'm a friggin open book to her! How!?_

Later in lunch, Tsukasa came up with a random question. "When you stop playing a videogame, do you think that maybe the characters are thinking something like 'why can't I move anymore'?"

Kagami looked up from her lunch. "Eh? It's a videogame. They don't have feelings."

"But what if they did?" Tsukasa inquired, "They'd be left all alone where you forced them to stop at for such a long time. Kind of scary when you think about it."

"Especially with the constant autosaving games do lately," Konata piped up, "They could be stuck in imminent danger for quite a while. Maybe their emotions extend through time too!"

Kagami shook her head hopelessly. "You guys can be so weird…"

"I'd never thought of it like that," I said, wondering, "Whatever happens to characters in the games you don't finish?"

"Bad end," Konata replied simply, and then grinned, "The opposing force wins because the heroes of the day mysteriously stopped moving, and they're all forced into slavery under the dark lord!" Tsukasa looked slightly frightened, while Kagami just rolled her eyes. "That's why you always have to finish a game you start!"

I reached over the table and patted Tsukasa's head comfortingly twice. "There there, s' just videogames." I'd always had the odd habit of patting people on the head twice to comfort them. Tsukasa blushed slightly, and thankfully she looked comforted and less frightened. "Anyways, you can just watch it on YouTube if you really want to see what happens at the end and you can't finish it."

"No way! That takes all the fun out of it!" Konata protested as I chuckled. I knew that'd get her riled up.

The bell sounded for the end of lunch. We all got up and ready, and I split from the rest of the group to head to my class. Aika was waiting for me in the hallway I was heading to. "Yo, Sakana!"

"Heya," I said happily.

"So how are things going with your new giiiirl-friiiiend?"

I steamed slightly. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh come on, you and her may as well be! You're perfect together!" Aika was absolutely beaming, as though Konata and I were a pair she secretly shipped, "You're both into anime and videogames and make references no one else gets, what more could you ask for!?"

I smiled. "Yeah, she's pretty amazing alright…" I let myself daydream about the times her and I could have together as a couple, _sneaking kisses in between bouts of Mario Kart, getting married in an MMO, watching anime while cuddled up together,_ _going to anime conventions as a canon character pairing, to-_

"Hey Casanova," Aika said, snapping me out of my daydream, "You passed your classroom by a few rooms."

"Eh!? Why didn't you tell me!?"

"I wanted to see how far you'd go without me telling you."

"Aaah! Gotta go, see ya!" I backtracked to my classroom, booking it, and made it in almost right before the tardy bell rang. "Safe!"


	4. Day 4

_**Day 4**_

**Friday, February 4****th**

**Morning**

_Who's that girl? Eh, she seems nice enough anyways. I've got to ask her about something. I don't even know who she is. Pink hair, glasses. Is she in my class or something? I run through the hallways, trying to catch up to her. She seems to be running away. She turns around suddenly. Backs me up into a locker. What the hell. Am I being assaulted or something. She's got my arms pinned to the lockers behind me. She's leaning in. She's gonna…kiss…me…!?_

Woke up today with one hell of a headache, from one hell of a dream. A lot of times I seemed to get headaches for no apparent reason. It was something I'd been dealing with my entire life, so after breakfast I popped a couple of Excedrin and called it good. Hopefully the pain would subside by the time school started. Still, that was a weird dream…but I've had weirder.

My mom caught me going for the Excedrin in the kitchen. "School stressing you out?" she asked.

"Nah, nothing super stressful anyways." I replied simply.

My dad was in the living room watching his TV as usual, one room over, and could easily overhear what was going on. He turned his head back to me from the couch he was sitting on and asked, "So how's your new gal been treatin' ya?"

"A-She's not my girlfriend, dad!" I fumed slightly.

"Aah, alright alright, but still how's she been treatin' ya?"

"Well enough," I replied, "Though she can read me like an open book for some reason…"

"Weren't ever that hard to read in the first place," Dad replied, grinning and turning back to his TV. I made a 'pfft' noise in response. "You're just like your mother in that respect, always wearing your heart and emotions on your sleeve."

"I dunno about that," Mom chimed in, "Sometimes I feel like I haven't the slightest idea what's going on in that brain of his. Worries me occasionally."

"You gotta admit though, Dad's always been good at reading people," I commented, "Anyways, I'm off to shower and get ready."

"Oh, Sakana!" Mom called to me as I went to leave as though she'd forgotten something. I turned around, and Mom hesitated. Dad looked back, and shook his head at mom.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Nevermind, you can go get ready for school, we'll explain after school," Mom replied. I shrugged and left, reasoning that it could wait if it wasn't truly urgent to them.

**End of Class**

"Yo," I said as I went to greet Konata.

"Heya," she replied as she was packing her things, "Ready for another day of interrogation?"

I chuckled. "No, actually, Fridays are usually the days I head to the library in lunchtime and work on my homework so I don't have any on the weekends."

"Oh, alright then," she replied nonchalantly, "Say hi to Kagami and Miyuki-san when you get there for me."

"Mmkay," I replied, "I uhh…hope you aren't upset over me ditching today…"

"Tsukasa and I might be down there too once I finish my lunch and if I have enough time, so no worries," she replied, "Besides, if you're gonna be my boyfriend, you should probably keep yourself up in grades; you're gonna need to compensate for me anyways."

I hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You ok?"

"Yeah, fine." She said simply. I wasn't buying it.

Then I grinned mischievously. "Ohh, I get it. You really are upset that I'm not gonna be around today!" I put on a silly lovey-dovey face. "Youuu weally doo wuv meee!"

She giggled, and then replied coyly, "Yeah, you'd just love that, wouldn't you?" The bell sounded, marking the end of class. "Run along to your library and silly studying and whatnot!" she said with a smile.

"Don't be too shy to come on over now!" I replied as I left for the library.

**Lunchtime**

Contrary what Konata had said, when I walked into the library, I saw no Kagami, so I just took a table to myself and whipped out my math homework, stealthily popping in a sushi roll. Thank goodness for my big mouth that could fit it all in one bite. Technically you weren't supposed to eat food in the library but…hey, it's not like I ever make a mess or anything! And I've never gotten caught once, as it wasn't easy to sneak a bite in here and there. Just gotta know how to do it and when.

Unfortunately, when I got about halfway through my homework, I soon realized from then on out it was Trigonometry problems.

I always hated Trig. The one math I absolutely sucked at and didn't understand in the slightest. And I didn't even bring a calculator either.

My head hit the math book open on the desk, and it stayed there for a moment before I jutted upwards because someone tapped me on the back. Poor girl, I jutted upwards too fast and I bumped her in the jaw with my head. I turned around. Turns out it was Kagami. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you and hit you on the jaw and I'm sorry!" I frantically said, "Are you bleeding? Do you need anything? Are you okay?"

Kagami chuckled a little while favoring the place she got hit. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Don't need to be so apologetic. I'm not bleeding or anything, it was just a tap really. Mind if I join you?" she asked, motioning to the table. I nodded, telling her it was okay, and she sat down to the right of me. "Trig, huh?" she said, looking at the various papers and book I had opened, "Always was pretty good at that."

"Really?" I responded dryly, though the dryness was more directed to myself than anyone else, "I always sucked at it, big time. I'm usually good at math, and when it comes to linear equations and combining integers, I can positively blow them away. But Trig's always thrown me for a loop, even in earlier grades.

"You know the laws and whatnot, right?" Kagami asked

"Yeah, but the problem is I can never figure out which sin, cosine or tangent to use for which problem. I always get the purposes and the problems mixed up, and almost always I end up getting the wrong answer because of it." I rested my head on my book once more. "This one's gonna be a bust. Who's idea was it to make these silly equations anyways? Can't a sextant or protractor or something like that measure the exact same thing in any real life position without the use of this _thing!_?" I began to get frustrated at myself.

"I know it's often used for measuring distances you can't really measure with a sextant," a voice said from behind me, "I think it's usually it's for things like astronomers to calculate distances between stars." I turned around, and immediately had a mini freakout when I saw who it was.

It was the girl from that dream I had today!

"W-who are you!?" I asked, absolutely flushed and frantic. Definitely the girl from my dreams. Large, round glasses, purple-pinkish eyes, pink hair, and – _damn, I gotta admit, girl got bust!_

The girl seemed taken aback a bit. "Uh- Takara Miyuki?"

"Something up, Sakana?" Kagami asked, "It's just Miyuki."

Not taking my eyes off of her, I asked, still slightly frantic, "You aren't gonna pin me down on any lockers or anything are you?"

Both Miyuki and Kagami tilted their heads and gave a short "eh?" sound. The area was silent for a while, both people besides me apparently trying to digest what I'd just said.

_Okay Sakana, that has got to be by far the single weirdest thing you've ever said to anyone out loud. Ever._

Konata and Tsukasa walked into the library and headed to our table. "Yo, we finished our lunch so here we are!" Konata said enthusiastically, and then began to observe the scene. "And why does everyone look weird here?" Tsukasa, not knowing how to react, almost mirrored Miyuki and Kagami's reactions now, albeit a little more over her head.

I turned back around to Konata slowly, then said, "Nothing, I'll explain later, I was just doing my math homework and Kagami was helping a little." Kagami and Miyuki seemed to not even know how to respond by now, so they just decided to play it off as nothing happened, and normality resumed. Konata, Tsukasa and Miyuki took seats around the table, and we all began chatting.

"That's right," Konata said, "You haven't met Miyuki yet, have you? She's like a walking encyclopedia over here!" She leaned over to me and whispered, "And she's amazingly moe too, just watch. Her flaws are so moe that it practically comes around and makes her flawless!" I chuckled a bit at that, though I wasn't particularly weak against moe.

"I'm wouldn't say I'm flawless," Miyuki replied, apparently having heard, "I mean, my eyesight's flawed after all."

"But with your glasses, it's a moe trait," Konata pointed out.

"I'm klutzy a lot."

"Moe trait."

"I'm forgetful."

"Moe trait."

"I'm unable to-"

"Moe trait, moe trait, moe moe moe trait!" Konata rebutted to Miyuki, "I'm sorry Miyuki-san, but I can't really hear you over the amount of moe you exude from every pore in your body."

"But I-"

"Moe trait."

"What about-"

"Moe trait."

"I'm a prostitute."

"Moe traiiiiiwhaaaaaaa!?" Everyone in the table made the same "Whaaaa!?" sound besides Miyuki. A beat.

Miyuki smiled. "Just kidding! I've been looking up a lot about standup comedy lately, and one thing I read said that shock value is a powerful thing in comedy. How did I do?"

Everyone in the table besides Miyuki made an exasperated face. Tsukasa slowly said, "I don't mean to be mean or anything like that but…I don't quite think that's how a joke like that is supposed to work…"

"I just think she's too moe for standup comedy." Konata said with a catsmile on her face.

"Well hey," I chimed in, "At least you've got the 'shock' part down just fine!" Konata and I chuckled. At that moment, the bell rang for class, and everyone parted except for Konata, who stayed as I hastily gathered my things. I was the only one who'd gotten any sort of books out to put away, so Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki left before me. "Oh, nice meeting you Miyuki!" I said before she left, "Sorry about before, I was a bit uhh…mixed up in the head."

"It's fine, I can relate honestly," she replied, "I get my words jumbled up with people I'm supposed to say them to myself sometimes, so I understand the feeling. It was nice meeting you as well, Sakana!" she said, then turned and left. I stared at her figure as she'd left. _That was the girl from my dream? It looked exactly like her, but…she's a lot gentler, that's for certain._

"Admiring how she's built?" Konata asked, apparently seeing me daze off in her direction.

I turned quickly. "Wha-NO! "

Konata grinned. "It's alright, you can admit it, I don't mind!"

"No, seriously, she's got bust and that's nice and all, but I really don't think she's my type."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Well I…" I had to think about it for a minute. "I…don't really know. I'm sort of a klutz myself. If what you say is true, then I feel bad for any room full of fragile things that Miyuki and I are in at the same time. It'd be good enough to be classified as a disaster zone." Konata started giggling uncontrollably at something. "What, what is it? Something I said?"

"No no no, nothing you said," she replied between giggles, "It's just that, ehehe, I totally imagined you and her trying to make out."

"E-EEEHHH!?"

"Yeah-yeah! And you two'd be all like bumping each other in the nose when trying to kiss and stuff! And maybe one of you would trip and bring the other down like a pair of dominos! Then you'd give each other concussions for trying too hard! Bahahaha!"

I pouted a little as she laughed. "I don't even like her like that!"

"But it's so funny to imagine two klutzes trying to make out!"

"You're being such a shipper on deck! Anyways! We really should get going; class is almost on!"

"Oh yeah, the bell rang, didn't it? And yeah, FYI, totally shipping you and Miyuki!"

"I can tell." I replied, "Anyways, I'm off. Have a good weekend Konata."

"You too," she replied as we left the library and parted ways.

**After School – Home**

I walked into my house, arriving from school, to my Mom sitting at the kitchen table reading her book. "Sakana," she said, "Can we talk for a minute?"

I wasn't surprised. It was probably about what went on this morning. I pulled up a chair across from her and took a seat. "Sure, what's up?" I noticed a box of tissues to the side.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this…" Mom hesitated for a moment, clearly bothered by something, then continued, "It's your grandmother…" Immediately she had my undivided attention. "She doesn't have much longer to live. The doctors can't do anything more for her. It's not like a disease or anything…but you know, she's been slowing down the past few years…"

"Yeah, I know…" Nana hadn't exactly been in her best health lately, and it had only steadily declined from what I could tell. Bluntly speaking, it was her beginning to die simply of old age. "So it's finally come to a head now, has it?" I sighed. To be honest, I didn't _really _know Nana that well, but what I did know of her, I liked. She was always so…earthy, I guess you could say. Had a lot of plants and knick-knacks. Damn good to go to for advice on pretty much anything, and she was always so sweet and caring to everyone around her. She'd lived a long, full life, which is why I wasn't about to break down into tears or anything. Still, I'd miss her quite a lot…

"She says that she wants to visit and stay here for a few days before heading out for the rest of her days," Mom said, "She'll be coming over on Sunday, and staying until around Friday on the 11th, give or take a day depending on how she's feeling."

I nodded. "Ought to give me a chance to talk with her a bit more than I had before." I had always felt guilty about not talking with her as much in the past, but half of the reason was Grandpa, who was quite frankly downright scary back when he was alive. I did my best to avoid him, and consequently, Nana. But he wasn't around anymore; hadn't been for a few years, so there was no need to avoid Nana any longer.

"Don't bring this up with your father, please," Mom said, "While she's my mom, she was quite close to your father as well. Just…try to act as though Nana's just visiting for a few days, nothing more, nothing less, okay?"

Again, I nodded. "Of course."

"Good. Now head on up to your room. I need some time to myself." I understood, and went to my room, where I attempted to finish whatever homework I could.


	5. Day 5

_**Day 5**_

**Saturday, February 5****th**

**Noon-ish**

Christ, today was shaping up slowly. I'd gotten up at about 10am, and all I'd really been doing since then (besides breakfast, of course) is reading around on TvTropes with my computer until the home phone rang. I didn't pick it up; that was usually either Mom or Dad when it came to the home phone, but soon enough my dad popped in my room with the phone and a wide grin on his face.

"It's your girlfriend."

I rolled my eyes. "She's not my girlfriend, Dad, how many times do I have to tell you?" He gave the phone to me, and I spoke into it. "Hello?"

"Heey, this is Sakana, right?" I heard Konata's voice ask over the phone.

"Yup, what's up?" I asked

"Kagami invited me over for a study group and asked if you wanted to come along too. Miyuki-san'll be there too."

I paused for a moment, not really sure what to say. "Er…where?"

"Hiiragi house."

"I haven't the slightest idea where that is. Got an address?" I asked, grabbing the nearest pen and paper I could find.

"Yeah." She gave me the address, which I wrote down and promptly Google Maps searched, my head leaning on the phone, holding it in place with my shoulder.

"Oh, hey, that's only about a thirty minute walk. Sure, I can be there." Something hit me then. "Uhh…Konata…?"

"What is it?"

"I'm gonna be the only guy there in the group. Will Kagami and Tsukasa's folks be okay with that?"

"I asked the same thing actually!" Konata replied, "Turns out, they're okay with it so long as there are all of us. Guess they figure that if you're the type that'll try anything funny, the rest of us girls'll team up and kick you out."

I chuckled. "No need to worry about that from someone like me, really. Hey, why didn't you just Skype me through all of this?"

"Huh? You were on Skype the entire time?"

"Yeah, of c-" I glanced at my computer's taskbar to find out that I, indeed, was not on Skype at all. "Oh…I see…I guess I wasn't on after all…"

"See? I had no other choice! Christ, today's been shaping up slowly," Konata said dryly, sounding clearly bored, "I'm glad this'll probably get things going. Well, see you there Sakana, later."

"Later." I hung up, then, unable to contain myself, jumped up from my chair and dashed to put the phone back into the receiver, dashed back into my room to get some jeans and shoes on, packed my bag with my math homework (figured I should at least get something done while there), excitedly grabbed my iPod and headphones, and ran out of my bedroom before being stopped by Mom.

"Whoa whoa, where are you heading off to in such a hurry?" Mom asked

I was panting at this point, having spent myself pretty much. "Hiiragi house…study group…getting help with Trig homework…"

"How far away is that?"

"About thirty minute's walk from here."

"Who'll be there?"

I hesitated. I hated lying, but thankfully my parents were fairly lenient. "Their mom and dad. The study group'll be me, Konata, Miyuki, Kagami and Tsukasa."

"All girls, huh? Not planning anything funny, are you?"

"Mooomm!" I drew out her name, clearly disappointed that she'd think so low of me, "Come on now! Even if I was, they'd just team up and throw me out the window if I tried anything funny! Not to mention the rest of her family there!"

"Oh, I suppose it's alright then," Mom said, "Just be back before dark, or give us a call if you're not here by dark for whatever reason."

I nodded. "Reasonable enough, I'll grab my cell." I went back into my room, grabbed my cell phone, went out of my room, through the house, and out the doorway.

"Have fun with your girlfriend Sakana!" Mom called as I left the house.

"FOR THE LOVE OF- SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND, DAMN!" I yelled, shutting the door. I knew she was just teasing, so I had a smile on my face as I put my headphones on and left.

* * *

I knocked on the door of the address Konata gave me, and sure enough, Kagami opened the door. "Yo, Sakana." She greeted me cheerfully, "Come on in."

"Thanks." I simply replied as I came in.

"I figured I could help you with that trig part of your homework you were on about yesterday," Kagami said, "Though don't expect Konata to do any work at all." She sighed. "At least you actually _try_."

"Oh?" I replied, "What's she do then?"

"Leech the answers from me all the time." Kagami replied, somewhat irritated.

I chuckled a little. "Yeah, sounds like something she'd do."

"Honestly," Kagami went on, "Would it kill her to have just a little work ethic for school? You'd be amazed how dedicated she can get when she wants to be."

I shrugged. "I dunno, just because one isn't motivated in school doesn't really make them an outright failure off the bat."

"I suppose so. Though actually getting through school well tends to at least help your chances out there, anyways." She replied.

"True, true, I'm not knocking school, don't get me wrong." We started walking through the house; I assumed she was taking me to the room where everyone else was. "Although trig can still suck it, as far as I'm concerned." I added bitterly.

Kagami giggled a little. "Oh don't worry, I'll help you out with that."

"Much appreciated." I replied gratefully.

"Cute boyfriend you got yourself there!" a voice behind me spoke. Kagami and I turned around to see a girl there with light brown hair and hazel eyes.

Kagami immediately started to fume. "He's not my boyfriend, Matsuri! Just a friend! Got it!?"

"Ehe…she's right, you know," I told the girl in front of me, "Anyways, we're just friends is all. I'm Ajiyoshi Sakana."

"Hiiragi Matsuri." the girl in front of us replied, seemingly a little put out.

"Well, nice to meet you then." I said, trying to be nice.

"C'mon, let's go." Kagami hastily said, turning and walking away. I turned to her, then back to Matsuri, and made an apologetic face to her, waved and followed Kagami.

"This the place?" I asked, coming into a rather spacious room. Konata, Tsukasa and Miyuki were all there, sitting around a square table.

"What do you think?" Konata replied, "Come on, have a seat, stay a while!" I grinned, and set down my bag. Tsukasa and Miyuki both greeted me, and I did to them back.

The table was a little small, but not tiny, and square shaped. _Oh boy, how's this gonna work with five people here…_ Miyuki was already sitting across from where Konata was sitting, and Tsukasa was at the left of Konata. Kagami took her seat to the right of Konata, directly across from Tsukasa. _Looks like I'm not getting a side to myself…better just grab a corner and go with it._ I sat myself at the corner between Konata and Kagami.

"You gonna be okay there?" Tsukasa asked, "That's not much space. I can trade you spots if you want."

"Aah, nah thanks, I'm fine." I replied. _Gah, she's so sweet I can barely take it!_

Konata started giggling all of a sudden. "What's up with you?" I asked. At that question, she started giggling even more.

"You knoooow, Sakana-chaaan, we can share this side of the table if you want, I don't miiiind you coming closer to meee." She said teasingly. Just at the thought, I immediately blushed furiously, my head now resembling the color of a tomato. "It's okay, I won't bite!" she added.

I glanced around the room at the rest of the group, who were all waiting for something to happen. My gaze averted everyone, instead looking down. _She's right you know. She said you could! Just do it! Just move over next to her, your head won't explode, she won't kill you, everything'll be okay, just do it._

I shifted closer to Konata by about two centimeters, each centimeter turning my face a brighter shade of red. I couldn't tell if it was Konata or Kagami giggling in the background.

"Well enough of this then!" I heard Konata say as I was still looking down. Next thing I knew, I was knocked over on my side suddenly, then yanked all the way to the opposite side, someone holding me rather tightly and dragging me. Finally my head rested on someone's arm. I was very disoriented, having been tossed about like a ragdoll with so much blood up in my head prior wasn't exactly the best feeling I'd ever had. I looked to the table, which I now was in a side rather than the corner. Tsukasa was to the left, Kagami to the right, Miyuki straight ahead.

I looked up to who's arm I was resting on.

It was Konata's.

And she was the one holding onto me.

"You see!?" Konata said loudly, "If you're ever gonna become my – or _anyone's _- boyfriend, either you or I'll have to break this super-shyness shell of yours that you insist on hiding in!"

I just blinked a few times, completely expressionless. Nothing happened for a few minutes.

"Is…he okay?" I heard someone ask. I think it was Tsukasa.

"Good going Konata, you broke him." What must have been Kagami said. I felt myself being lifted off of Konata.

I slowly turned my head to Konata. "You okay dude?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm f-" I replied dizzily before fainting.

* * *

I slowly fluttered my eyes open. The hell had just happened? I could tell that I was in a bed…and it was a freakin' soft bed at that. I rolled over to come face to face with a bright colored stuffed bunny. Subsequently I realized that the entire bed was jam-packed with stuffed animals.

"Ah- you're awake!" I heard a voice say, "Hey, he's awake now!" I lifted my head to see Tsukasa sitting on a stool next to the bed I was in.

"How…what…huh?" I said, clearly befuddled.

Konata came into the room, followed by Kagami. "Yeesh," Konata began, "You're a heavy sleeper, you know that?"

"I think you owe him an apology." Kagami said rather harshly to Konata.

"Oh-hahaha, yeah probably. Sorry about that, I didn't realize you'd go limp on me," Konata said, smiling sheepishly. "But you know, you probably shouldn't faint like that again. Tsukasa was worried sick that you'd died!"

"I-I was not!" Tsukasa protested, "I knew he wasn't dead!"

"Ohh?" Konata teasingly cooed, "Is that why you didn't leave his side for even one moment before he came to? Not even to help with the cooking!" Tsukasa simply pouted a little and turned away from Konata. It was kind of cute, really.

"Aah, sorry I worried everyone. Hey, where's Miyuki?" I asked.

"Helping in the kitchen with my sisters," Kagami replied, "They're making all of us lunch."

At that mention, my stomach growled loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone in the room giggled a little. Kagami said, "I'm pretty sure the food's ready."

"Guess I'd better get up then," I said, grinning. Something about me had…changed. I couldn't place my finger on what quite, but I would soon come to realize that Konata had indeed slightly cracked my shell. It wasn't broken as of yet, but it certainly had a nice dent on it. From here on, I didn't…worry as much. I still worried, of course, but not to the point of fainting ever again. "By the way, this bed is really comfortable."

"Well, I do like my bed to be really soft." Tsukasa replied cheerfully. With that, we all headed to the living room. A main table was set up with all the food on it, and a separate table with chairs set up in the kitchen. The mom and dad of the family were at the main table, along with Matsuri and someone else I didn't recognize. It seemed like the five of us were meant to get the separate table – probably so we weren't all drowned by total grown-up talk.

As we came into the room, I waved passing through. Who I assumed was the dad got up to greet me. "Hello, my name's Hiiragi Tadao," he said smiling, "You must be the young man going out with the blue-haired one?"

"Ah-" I cut myself off. I was going to respond in a fashion similar to my dad saying that, but I figured I shouldn't be too impolite. I grinned sheepishly. "I'm Ajiyoshi Sakana, nice to meetcha! And no, we aren't going out at all, just friends for now."

"For now?" a woman whom I thought to be the mother said teasingly, "Doesn't sound like it'll be that way forever, by the way that was worded."

Okay, now I didn't give a crap about formality. When the mom starts teasing on me, all bets are off. I pouted slightly. "Gimme a break, why is it always the grown-ups that think we're going out anyways?"

"Probably because you and her are so alike!" the mom said, clearly having fun with this.

"Aak! Everyone keeps saying that." I responded. It's not like I made it look like I took it to heart or anything; I was well aware it was all in good fun. Besides, I secretly liked hearing that Konata and I were alike.

Our group of five (that is to say, Konata, Tsukasa, Kagami, Miyuki and myself) took our seats at the separate table in the kitchen. Looks like today's menu was a casual barbeque…or was it sautéed? Maybe it was stir fried…I don't know what it was, alright? All I know was that there was meat and fried rice and it was really freakin' good. I'm not that great at recognizing how a food is cooked…

"So, do you feel any better now?" Miyuki asked me while at the table.

I was puzzled for a moment. _Oh yeah, that's right, fainted and everything_. "Yeah, I'm fine. No problems. Probably helped that I got some shut-eye anyways. How long was I out?"

"I'd say for about half an hour." Kagami replied.

"Huh…" Looking back on it, I wasn't really sure why I reacted the way I did. I mean, sure I could see myself getting all red in the face and embarrassed, but not to the point of _fainting. _I mean damn, was I really that hyper-nervous? If the same situation were repeated, would I go so far as to just drop limp again? It just seemed so unrealistic of a reaction…

Hah, come to think of it, Konata was eating right next to me at the table. I'd only just now noticed. And I wasn't reacting anywhere near to what I'd done before.

_Maybe she's right…maybe I really do need to work on my whole nervousness thing…_

After eating, we all headed back to the same room. Kagami told me to sit next to her this time, so that she could help me with Trigonometry. She broke out her math book, as did I.

Kagami noticed that I stowed my homework paper into the book itself. "You know, putting it there gets the ends all bent out of shape. I usually keep my homework pages in a separate folder."

I shrugged. "It's homework, not important government documents. I doubt it'll make a difference if the ends are bent upwards."

"Eeeeh, it just looks nicer," Kagami replied, "But I guess it doesn't make that much of a difference, as long as the writing's legible."

And then she looked at my actual homework page and what was written. As she scanned through it, an exasperated look formed on her.

"Geez Sakana…you're handwriting's almost as bad as Konata's." she said.

"Aah, just one more thing we have in common, then!" Konata chimed in.

"They'd probably never be able to write notes or letters to each other." Tsukasa said, somewhat missing the point.

"Yeesh, is it that bad?" Konata swiped the paper away from Kagami, startling her in the process, and scanned the paper herself.

"You're crazy, Kagami," Konata said flatly, "I can read it just fine."

"WHA-REALLY!?" Kagami replied.

Tsukasa and I grinned. "Konata should translate." Tsukasa and I said at the same time. The entire room stopped for a moment, and then everyone burst into laughter.

After all of that, Kagami ended up helping me a lot with the concepts of Trigonometry, and thanks to her, I actually got the hang of it! It wasn't _easy_ for me, by any means, but at least I wasn't hopeless in it anymore.

"Hehehe, so this means I'm going to have a boyfriend that can do my homework for me?" Konata said schemeishly

I narrowed my eyes, smiling slightly. "Oh? Just because I have a sizeable crush on you doesn't mean I'm going to become your tool." Kagami giggled slightly at that.

"Aah no!" Konata cried, "Kagami's influence has rubbed off too much on Sakana!" We all had a good laugh at that.

After my Trig homework was finally complete, it was getting pretty late. I decided to pack it up and get ready to head home. "Mom said I had to be home before dark, so I should go," I began, "Kagami, thanks so much for the Trig help."

"No prob!" she replied, "Feel free to ask if you need anything else!"

"Now why don't I get that sort of treatment from Kagami?" Konata muttered smiling.

"Because he actually tries to learn the stuff." Kagami replied rather crossly.

"Tsukasa, thanks for lending me your bed after I was out." I said gratefully. She smiled cheerfully, saying 'Of course!'

"Konata…" I began. I wondered how I should word something so odd to say. "Uhh…thanks…for being here!" What I had wanted to do was to thank her for making me overall less…nervy. But I wasn't really sure how to word it, especially with everyone else around.

Konata just tilted her head a little. "Uhh…no problem?"

I chuckled a little. "Well, I'd better be off then. Later!" I turned to take off before hearing someone else pipe up, making me stop.

"Actually, could I maybe walk with you?" Miyuki asked, "I really do need to go home myself, and we live around the same area."

I tilted my head. "We do?"

"Well, no, but in the same direction anyways."

I shrugged. "Sure, fine by me." I held up for her to grab her things, and off we went, thanking the mom and dad for making lunch as we went out.

It was around 5pm, and the sun was just beginning to set. Miyuki and I began our walk. It was odd; she seemed to know the way better than I did.

"Say, how did you know what direction my house was?" I asked.

"Oh, well, it's a little embarrassing," she began, "but sometimes when I'm bored, I get on my computer and start putting my friend's addresses into Google Maps."

I grinned. "You too, huh? Though whenever I do it, I never remember where or what direction the person is in. Then again, I do have a crappy memory…"

"Can I ask you something?" Miyuki said rather suddenly.

I blinked a little. "Yeah, sure, go for it."

"Why do you like Konata?"

I looked at her, slightly surprised. "Well, um…she's just really cool overall! She's a gamer girl and she's into anime and manga, she's pretty…"

"Would you like any girl that was like that?"

That question took me aback. The fact that it was from Miyuki, of all people, surprised me the most.

"…No, I wouldn't think that I would," I replied carefully after thinking a little on it, "I mean, Aika's pretty much like that, but I'm not all that into her. Not like I am with Konata, anyways."

"So," Miyuki replied, "There's something that sets Konata apart from other gamer and anime girls?"

I blushed a little. "Yeah, must be."

"Do you know what it is?"

"…I…I'd never really thought about it." I'd faltered a little. This was something I'd never expected from Miyuki. It wasn't like she was insistent or intense about it. She was asking as if she were genuinely curious.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad or anything like that. Are you alright?" I'd had my head down for a little bit, dwelling on the questions she'd asked.

"Yeah, I'll be alright." I replied, "It's just…these are things I'd never thought of, but I feel like I should have before getting myself into this. Maybe…maybe I'm in over my head…maybe this has all been for little to nothing…" I sighed a little.

"Well, you've got new friends, right?" Miyuki replied, "That's got to count for something, even if you don't end up going out with Konata, right?"

I saw what she was saying. That even if what I really wanted didn't happen; it wouldn't all have been for nothing. I'll have gained friends, not to mention, experiences and great memories. It had only been five days, and I'd already had good times with this group.

I smiled. "Yeah, you're right."

A little while later, we came to my house. "You gonna be alright on your own?" I asked.

"Oh, I'll be fine, no need to worry!" she replied cheerfully, "I'd be more worried about you having to face your parents if you were out after dark."

I grinned sheepishly at that. "Yeah, that'd be pretty bad." I turned to go to my door, then turned back.

"Miyuki…you're not really as much of a ditz as you make yourself out to be, are you? You knew what you were doing when you decided to walk with me, didn't you?"

She smiled pleasantly. "I'm flattered that you think so, but really I have no idea what you're talking about."

I chuckled a little. Okay, maybe she was still a ditz. But still, I put on the most sincere face I could find.

"Miyuki…thanks."

She just smiled, waved and went on her way.

* * *

**A/N: Now go back, read the chapter again, and take a drink every time someone denies that they're someone else's boyfriend/girlfriend.**


	6. Day 6

_**Day 6**_

**Sunday, February 6****th**

**Around 11am**

Got woken up today to people laughing loudly in the living room, and a new voice I hadn't heard in a while. Turns out, Nana had arrived a couple of hours earlier while I was asleep. A new wheelchair and gurney-bed had been made room for in the living room. I groggily rubbed my eyes, climbed out of bed and went to greet them in the living room, a drowsy "G'mornin" dribbling from my mouth.

"Aaah, there he is!" Nana exclaimed, "I'd do it myself, but I can't really walk anymore, so could you be a dear and come give your nana a hug?"

I grinned, kneeled down and hugged her. "Of course, Nana." I said happily, "It's wonderful to see you again."

"And you too," Nana said cheerfully as we parted from embrace, "So I hear you have a nice girlfriend now? When do I get to meet her?"

Immediately my smile dropped into a slight pout. _Oh god dammit even Nana? _"She's not my girlfriend, she's just a friend that I so happen to like."

"So, why don't you ask her out?" Nana asked.

"IT'S-" I paused and sighed, exasperatedly smiling, "It's not quite like that." I thought about telling her the whole one-month deal, but now that I thought of it, it was probably a silly move on my part to try and ask a girl I didn't really know out in the first place, and I'd probably get mocked for it mercilessly. "But I am enjoying my time with her, and her friends."

"Well, that's good!" Nana replied, "You should always try to make friends with your spouse's friends."

"She's not my g- okay you know what, nevermind! It seems like any amount of denying it that I do isn't going to convince anyone otherwise, so I'm not even gonna answer anymore." I traveled across the living room into the kitchen, clearly annoyed. Mom and Dad were both in there, eating their breakfast. We said our good mornings, and I went about to making myself a nice bowl of Fruit Loops.

"So I take it you already visited with your nana." Dad said, biting a chunk off of his toast.

"Yeah," I replied, "She seems cheerful enough."

"Well, that's good to hear…" Something about what my dad said seemed off. I remembered Mom saying that he was taking Nana's situation the hardest, and decided it probably had something to do with that. I tried and acted oblivious, munching on my Fruit Loops cheerfully.

"Any plans?" Mom asked.

"Nah," I replied, "Figured I could stay around and visit with Nana a little more." I really just wanted to catch up with her a little more.

"You can take your breakfast into this living room as long as you make sure not to spill." Mom said, smiling. I nodded gratefully, and went to the living room with my bowl, found a place to sit and made myself comfortable. Nana seemed to be idly spending her time in a crossword book. While the straight-faced cliché of it all amused me for a moment, I had to confess that I liked crossword books myself, and really, puzzles and mysteries in general, even if I was terrible at them.

One of the things I really liked about Nana was that she didn't mind other people just being around not doing much. A lot of people might start to feel awkward when someone just sits there next to you in the same room, feeling somehow obligated to start some sort of small talk, but Nana was content to stay silent as long as the other person did. The presence of company alone was good enough for both of us. So for a while, I just went about eating my cereal, enjoying the quiet, letting my head roam around randomly as it so often did.

At some point it had wandered to Miyuki, last night. Her questions…she didn't ask them in any sort of insistency, or was pushy at all. They seemed like such curious inquiries, nothing more. But the more I dwelled on it…I wondered why I liked Konata so much in the first place? There had to be something that set her apart, otherwise I might as well like Aika in the same way. But what? I'm the one that likes Konata, why would it be such a difficult question to answer?

…was there even a reason at all? Did I…maybe just like her for the sake of liking her?

"Something on your mind that you'd like to talk about?" Nana suddenly asked, not even so much as glancing away from her crossword book.

"I always did think you were psychic." I replied good-humoredly.

She chuckled a little. "Oh, when you've lived as long as I have, you tend to learn a thing or two about people."

I'd sighed. What was I to say? "I guess…my thing is…I've liked this girl for a good two years now. Ever since I saw her, really. But the more I think about it, the more I realize, I'm not sure if I even have a reason to like her."

"Then why do you like her?" It was such a simple question.

"I…have no idea. That's the thing I'm worried about."

"There has to be at least _some_ reason, otherwise you wouldn't like her, now, would you?"

"Well…the things I thought I liked her for could easily be found in my best friend as well, but I don't like my best friend in the same way. So I'm at a loss now."

Another little chuckle came from Nana. "Ohhh, you kids. You're not even eighteen years old, you know?"

I was a little befuddled. What did that have to do with anything?

"Not that you can help that at all," she continued, "It's just the difference in perspective amuses me. I'd like to say if I were your age, boys would be the least of my concerns, but I'd be lying to myself."

I tilted my head. I knew what she was saying, I was just confused as to how it related.

"I guess what I'm saying is, it's not something I'd be much help with. It's your head, not mine. With time, you'll either find your reason, or move on."

"…will it really be that simple?" I asked.

"Probably not," she replied, "But that's what it'll come down to in the end. Unless you're really thick-headed, which I don't think you are despite your clumsiness and air-headedness, you won't wander around in this limbo you're so afraid of."

I hadn't even said anything about it, and yet she pinpointed what I was worried about most as though it were obvious from the beginning. That's what it really boiled down to. I didn't want to not know forever. So, even though I didn't know now…it was comforting that she was so certain I wouldn't be treading the line forever.

"Thanks, Nana." I said before heading to the kitchen and putting my bowl in the sink. She simply nodded, smiling.

I came back to the living room, where her and I talked about other miscellaneous things. Namely stories she told from her past, but I didn't mind. In fact, I quite liked hearing her stories. She had a certain way with words that I can't really describe, and she could make the most mundane things sound interesting. For a good while, her and I just talked.

"Do you have any plans or aspirations on what you want to become after schooling?" she asked at one point.

"Mmmmmm…" I'd hemmed and hawed over that question myself a lot, "I'm leaning towards something in photography, but I'm not sure really. I've never been much of a traveler, but I like taking pictures of things and editing them on photoshop."

"Well, there are areas in photography you wouldn't have to travel too much, surely," she replied robustly, "You could become a photography teacher, even!"

"Keh, I'd never thought of that before actually! It's something I'll have to think about…I'd also thought about something computer related, but I really just know enough to get by."

"It's a highly sought-after ability, working with computers!" she said, "Probably quite well paying, but you'd have to be careful. They change quickly, and you'd always need to keep up with that change while at the same time retaining your knowledge of the past."

I nodded. "It'd probably be more difficult than most."

After chatting a while more, I decided to head to my room and hop on my computer. Logging into Skype, I saw that Kagami was on.

Sakana: Heyo, Kagami! ^^

Kagami: Yo, Sakana. How are you today?

Sakana: Pretty good. Thanks again for that help on trig. If it's not too much, would you be able to check my paper tomorrow? I've already finished all the problems, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Kagami: Of course!

Sakana: Thanks~! Um…can I ask you a question about Konata?

Kagami: Go ahead.

Sakana: I've just been thinking…why do you think I like her?

Kagami: That's a weird question. Well, from an outside perspective, I'd say you like her mainly because you and her are so similar. You get each other's references for the most part, something she hadn't had very often in real life, nor have you, I'd assume. You seem to operate on the same…wavelength, I suppose?

Kagami: Like you and her are pretty carefree in the same way, I guess. Though your apparent nervousness is present, you and her seem to have the same take on life. My sister's the same way, really. A sort of day-to-day basis unless something important enough comes along to disrupt it.

Kagami: I guess it's just a type of person, really. I tend to prepare more for the future than you guys do.

Sakana: Khihi, yeah, that's true. But it seems like you find enjoyment in it, right?

Kagami: Well of course. But I do sometimes like the idea of a lazy day off on occasion, despite that.

Sakana: I'm sure most people would.

Kagami: Hey, any reason why you're asking this sort of thing?

Sakana: *sigh* I dunno really.

Kagami: Having doubts?

Sakana: Not exactly. I know I like her still, it's just…I'm not sure it's okay to like her without a solid reason.

Kagami: Sakana. You're in high school. Just go with it. You're acting like you're going to marry the girl in a few months.

I ended up blushing very hard at the thought of marrying Konata. I imagined her look gorgeous in a wedding dress, me suddenly picking her up happily and wisking her away from the podium after the words and stuff were said. Considering how short she was, it'd probably be easy on the arms, too. Aaaah, that would be so wonderful!

Oh god. I realized that I really _was_ acting like I was going to marry her in a few months. After a long pause, I typed.

Sakana: oh god...you're right.

I'd felt rather embarrassed that my daydreams suddenly sped off in that direction. Maybe I should take a minute to just calm down and go slower with this.

Kagami: Did you just have a daydream about it?

_HOW DID SHE KNOW!? WAS I REALLY THAT EASY TO READ!?_

Sakana: v.v''

Kagami: You did, didn't you?

Sakana: Sorta yeah.

Kagami: Ohhh wow. What are we gonna do with you?

Sakana: I dunno. Be her bridesmaids?

Kagami: Seriously Sakana?

Sakana: I kid, I kid! But I mean…if years in the future that _does_ happen, I'd be totally cool with it.

Kagami: I'd love to be. Just…try to maybe calm down and take things slower?

_Didn't I just think that? Is Kagami in my conscious? IS SHE my conscious? Plot twist!_

Kagami: Just remember that you're a Junior in high school. While romance is nice and all, none of us really have perspective at all yet, so we shouldn't really worry too much about it. Or at least, that's what my mom and dad tell me every time I end up telling them about my crushes.

Sakana: I suppose you/they are right. I'll just go with it for now. Thanks, Kagami. I really do appreciate you being here to talk about this sort of stuff. ^^

Kagami: Not a problem.


End file.
